- Trenton completed a $7.7 million deal in mid-October with real estate company Prologis on 141 acres of land in the city
- The purchase agreement detailed plans to develop a 1 million-square-foot data center on the property, though no site plan with final specifications has been submitted
- The land lies within the Trenton Industrial Park near Kennel and Woodsdale Roads and is just east of Molson Coors Beverage Company
- Environmental and traffic impact studies have not been completed
- No tax abatements have been decided on
- The operator of the data center is not known at this time
When news of the sale hit the community, people were quick to speak against it — citing concerns of higher energy and water bills, noise and light pollution, emergency response times and worries the community was left in the dark about the plans.
“On council, we read all of (these plans) numerous times, and we had nobody at the council meetings and no one spoke up and said anything until we were done,” Mayor Ryan Perry said.
Perry said the city will work on improving communications, which will include newsletters, live Q&As with the mayor, monthly roundtables on the last Thursday of the month and the movement of council and work session recordings from Facebook — which deletes videos after 30 days — to a permanent home on YouTube.
U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Troy, who attended a groundbreaking for the city’s new municipal building Thursday, told Journal-News he believed the city would “do (the data center) the right way,” though he understood resident concerns.
“I think (the data center) is going to do a lot of good things for the people of Trenton, personally, but I think it’s important to hear people out,” he said.
Carl Hahn was one of many residents who expressed concerns in Thursday’s meeting, one being that more data centers would come to the city.
“Within the current city of Trenton boundaries, the industrial park is the extent of our boundary ... there is no ability for Trenton to grow anymore at this point,” City Manager Marcos Nichols said.
Credit: Bryn Dippold
Credit: Bryn Dippold
Other concerns included water usage and capacity of Trenton’s water treatment plant — which Perry said could handle up to 6 million gallons of water a day with minor improvements. Current usage for the city is 1.5 million gallons per day.
“We’re looking at the safest way this would come in, and the point is ... if it went into the township, they would just dig their own wells, and they could take as much water as they possibly could out of those wells. At least here they are limited with water on what we can produce and give them,” Mayor Ryan Perry said.
Having the data center in Trenton also gives the city tap-in fees — one-time charges for connecting a new property to municipal water and sewer system —and property and income tax revenues.
One resident said councilmembers sold the land as a “cash cow,” which council denied. The man was asked to leave after continuing to accuse council of selling the land only to make money and not to benefit citizens, though he said he left on his own accord.
“It should have been sold for something like a green house, something that was going to benefit people,” he said.
Many people left the meeting understanding progress will happen but still did not want a data center in the city. Tonya Hahn said she’d consider selling her home, which is on Marcia Drive. The data center would be in her backyard.
Resident Tiffany Burt-Price told Journal-News following the meeting her mind had changed.
“I think the biggest thing that changed my mind tonight is ... a lot of rumors were dispelled,” she said. “Again, like they said, it’s coming where the city actually has control versus a quarter mile away where we have no control ... that has to change my opinion and it does.”
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